pioneering next generation approaches to cure neurological conditions.

NEWS

Kenai Therapeutics Establishes Patient Advisory Board

Kenai Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Dr. Derek Hei as Chief Technology Officer

Kenai Therapeutics Announces $82 Million Series A Financing to Advance Next Generation Allogeneic Cell Therapies for Neurological Diseases

meet kenai therapeutics

We are advancing off-the-shelf dopamine neuron replacement therapies as a disease-modifying and potentially curative treatment for neurological conditions. Our proprietary platform leverages a novel approach to treating central nervous system conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, by replacing neurons lost from neurodegeneration.

our science

We take a unique approach to drug discovery and development from current therapeutic offerings for neurodegenerative conditions by leveraging induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, a Nobel Prize-winning scientific breakthrough.

Our platform of next-generation, gene-modified programs has the potential to reverse disease progression in inherited and idiopathic forms of Parkinson’s disease and other central nervous system conditions by replacing neurons lost from degeneration.

RNDP-001, our lead candidate, is an iPSC dopamine progenitor for the treatment of both idiopathic and inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease, and has displayed superior survival, innervation, and behavioral rescue in preclinical models of Parkinson’s diseases.

our pipeline

PRE-CLINICAL

PROGRAM

RNDP-001

PLATFORM

DISCOVERY

PROGRAM

DISCOVERY

PROGRAM

iPSC | Dopamine Neuron Progenitor

INDICATIONS

1 Moderate to Severe Parkinson’s Disease

2 Inherited Parkinson’s Disease*

*Sponsored by grant funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF)

COLLABORATOR

RNDP-002

PLATFORM

Gene-Modified iPSC | Dopamine Neuron Progenitor

INDICATIONS

Mild to Severe Rapid Progressing Parkinson’s Disease

RNDP-003

PLATFORM

Gene-Modified iPSC | Dopamine Neuron Progenitor

INDICATIONS

Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease

our team

  • Chief Financial Officer

    Mr. Rajesh (Raj) Mistry is Chief Financial Officer at Kenai Therapeutics. Previously, he was Advising Chief Financial Officer at Ryne Bio (Kenai’s predecessor) supporting the company’s $80+ million Series A financing and securement of grant funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

    Mr. Mistry has approximately 20 years of healthcare finance experience in both privately-held and publicly-traded companies. He has advised several early-stage cell and gene therapy companies and other biotech and medtech companies with strategic finance and capital raising initiatives. Most recently, Mr. Mistry served as Chief Financial Officer of TriSalus Life Sciences (NASDAQ: TLSI), an immuno-oncology therapy company where he successfully guided the execution of the company’s private capital raising strategy that secured both equity and non-dilutive capital.

    Previous to his Chief Financial Officer and advisory roles, Mr. Mistry led corporate M&A, directed corporate strategic finance and began his career in healthcare investment banking.

    Mr. Mistry holds a Bachelor of Science in finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

  • Chief Legal Officer

    Mr. Martin Ostrowski is Chief Legal Officer at Kenai Therapeutics. Recently as Co-Founder of two biotech spin-outs in the advanced medicine sector, he raised over $15 million while leading intellectual property licensing & portfolio development and operations. Mr. Ostrowski previously served as Director of Intellectual Property and Business Development at Cellscript, practiced law at Sughrue Mion, PLLC, and led the business development operations at Arteriocyte and Arteriocyte Medical Systems. His professional career has spanned academic research, business development and commercialization activities, prosecuting and litigating domestic and international intellectual property, and leadership roles in different biotechnology and pharma-based commercial entities.

    Mr. Ostrowski received his Bachelor of Science in bioengineering from Arizona State University. He also holds a Master of Science in biochemistry and Doctor of Law from Case Western University.

  • Program Director

    Mr. Anton Bittner is Program Director at Kenai Therapeutics. He has extensive experience as a program manager, leading development teams to three Investigational New Drug applications and two drug approvals in both the United States and European Union. Mr. Bittner has over 20 years of experience as a drug discovery scientist, leading the functional genomics team at Janssen R&D in La Jolla, California, supporting the development of genomic tools to provide orthogonal measures of ADME, PK, and toxicology, and has 25 peer-reviewed publications. Over the past eight years, he has worked on drugs for four different orphan indications, including the CMC process development stage of Rylaze, now approved for the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He has also led biosimilar product development, enabling treatment for patients that would otherwise not have access to disease altering therapy. Through this work, a biosimilar teriparatide was approved in both the United States and European Union, as well as in additional countries around the world. As a scientist, he managed translational biomarker work for several approved drugs including Remicade, Stelara, Infliximab and Spravato.

    Mr. Bittner holds a Bachelor of Science in physiology and neuroscience from the University of California San Diego.

  • Director, Preclinical/Translational Biology

    Dr. Valeria Yartseva is Associate Director for Translational Biology at Kenai Therapeutics. She was recently Principal Scientist of Neuroscience Discovery at BridgeBio Pharma leading multiple early discovery programs to develop antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) and small molecule therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, she was a scientist in the Neuroscience Department at Genentech where she led research programs across neuromuscular indications including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, cell replacement therapy, and ALS.

    Dr. Yartseva holds a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience from University of California, Berkeley, and received her Doctor of Philosophy from Yale University.

  • Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

    Dr. Yoshiko Stowell is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Kenai Therapeutics. She has over 20 years of experience in drug development of small molecules primarily for neurology indications including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and pain management. She has diverse experience in R&D, Project Management, Clinical Operations, and Regulatory Affairs. Most recently, she was Head of Regulatory Affairs at Neuron23, Inc. where she led the regulatory strategy for the development of a LRRK2 inhibitor for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in patients identified by in vitro companion diagnostics. Previously, she contributed to the MAA approval of Numient (levodopa/carbidopa extended release capsules), known as Rytary in the US for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and development of IPX203, a 2nd generation levodopa/carbidopa extended release capsules at Impax Therapeutics, Inc., merged with Amneal Pharma.

    Additional roles include Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at AmyriAD Therapeutics, Inc and Sr. Director of Regulatory Affairs at Eidos Therapeutics, BridgeBio Pharma. She is currently a Chair of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

    Dr. Stowell received her Doctor of Philosophy in pharmaceutical science from University of the Pacific, Master of Science in chemical engineering from University of Oklahoma, and Bachelor of Science in pure and applied chemistry from Tokyo University of Science.

  • Vice President of Quality

    Ms. McClatchey brings two decades of experience in cell and gene therapy and more than a decade of experience in biologics and blood banking to her role as Vice President of Quality. She has extensive expertise in the development and implementation of Quality Management Systems and the Quality Control function for support of preclinical and clinical stage manufacturing, as well as planning and implementing QMS for combination products, including design controls and ISO 13485 compliance for medical devices. Throughout her career, she has held roles at GenStar, Cosmo Bioscience, ViaCyte, IDEC Pharmaceuticals and the American Red Cross.

    Ms. McClatchey holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from California State University, San Marcos.

  • Senior Director of Cell Therapy Research and Development

    Ms. Anindita Bhoumik is Senior Director of Cell Therapy Research and Development at Kenai Therapeutics. To this role, she brings over 17 years of experience in extensive discovery research and driving cell therapy drug candidates into the clinic. Prior to joining Kenai Therapeutics, Ms. Bhoumik served as the Director of Research at ViaCyte, a regenerative medicine company developing novel cell replacement therapies in a retrievable cell delivery device for Type I diabetes. In addition, she has seven years of experience in melanoma cancer research pioneering new treatment strategies using gene therapy and small molecules. She has published over 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications, review articles, book chapters and U.S. patents.

    Ms. Bhoumik holds a Master of Science in organic chemistry from Banaras Hindu University.

  • Chief Technology Officer

    Dr. Derek Hei is Chief Technology Officer at Kenai Therapeutics. He has over 30 years of experience developing cell and gene therapies with expertise in process/assay development, manufacturing and Quality Control testing in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), and regulatory affairs. Following his Ph.D., Dr. Hei worked at Genentech and Cerus Corp. before taking a position at the University of Wisconsin to lead the development of Waisman Biomanufacturing, a CDMO that specializes in early-stage development of cell and gene therapies. At Waisman, Dr. Hei led several NIH-funded initiatives including the first National Stem Cell Bank, with a goal of developing standards for production and testing of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). That program led to the development of some of the first hESC and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines to be successfully advanced into human clinical trials.  

    Dr. Hei followed the rapidly evolving iPSC field back into industry with roles including Vice President of Clinical Manufacture, Quality and Regulatory at Fujifilm CDI, Chief of Manufacturing and Technical Operations at BlueRock Therapeutics, Senior Vice President of Cell and Gene Therapy Pre-Clinical and Clinical Manufacturing at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and most recently, Chief Technology Officer for Clade Therapeutics. In these roles, he has developed the CMC strategy for several cell therapies derived from iPSC lines including gene edited iPSCs. He has been responsible for building CMC teams and working with the teams to execute process/analytical method development plans and transition programs from R&D into cGMP-compliant manufacturing and QC testing to support human clinical trials.

    Dr. Hei holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Doctor of Philosophy in biochemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Scientific Cofounder

    Dr. Howard Federoff is Scientific Cofounder of Kenai Therapeutics. Recently as Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Neuroscience, he led the company through a $70 million Series A financing to advance an autologous iPSC program targeting Parkinson's disease. Subsequently, as President & Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, he executed a pivot into iPSC immuno-oncology. Dr. Federoff co-founded Brain Neurotherapy Bio, a clinical stage company pursuing AAV gene therapy for patients with movement disorders.

    Dr. Federoff is a recognized thought leader and serial entrepreneur in the field of advanced medicines for diseases of the nervous system, focused on the development of gene and cellular therapy strategies to interdict pathogenesis. As a clinician scientist he has previously served roles as Dean of Medicine, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and Health System, President of the American Society for Experimental Therapeutics, American Society for Neural Transplant and Repair, and Vice President of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Federoff is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, and has published more than 350 peer-reviewed, review articles, chapters and U.S. patents.

  • Scientific Cofounder

    Dr. Jeffrey H. Kordower is Scientific Cofounder of Kenai Therapeutics, and Founding Director of the Arizona State University-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center. He is a widely recognized thought leader in the field of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.

    Dr. Kordower is a founding and current member of the scientific advisory committee for the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) Scientific Advisory Committee and a two-time member of the MJFF executive scientific advisory committee. He previously served as President of the American Society for Neural Transplantation and past member of the Movement Disorders Society international executive committee. Dr. Kordower has published over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts and chapters, primarily in the area of research on Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.

executive team

  • Chief Executive Officer
    Board Member

    Mr. Nicholas (Nick) Manusos is Chief Executive Officer of Kenai Therapeutics. Previously, Mr. Manusos was founding Chief Executive Officer of Ryne Bio (Kenai’s predecessor) from company creation, seed financing and the $80+ million series A. In addition, Mr. Manusos was President and Chief Executive Officer of Opsis Therapeutics, where he led the company through a $70 million upfront funding strategic research and development alliance with Bayer-BlueRock Therapeutics. Mr. Manusos also served as founding Chief Operating Officer of Iota Biosciences resulting in a $300 million acquisition by Astellas.

    Additional roles include Chief Operating Officer of FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics Inc., where, among other accomplishments, he played a key role in the creation and eventual initial public offering of Century Therapeutics; Vice President, Global Head of Business Development at Baxter International, Inc.; Vice President, Licensing & Business Development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals; and various executive positions at Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Manusos received his Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his Bachelor of Business Administration, Operations Management from University of Wisconsin.

  • Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Medicine and Science

    Dr. Howard Federoff is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Medicine and Science of Kenai Therapeutics. Recently as Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Neuroscience, he led the company through a $70 million Series A financing to advance an autologous iPSC program targeting Parkinson's disease. Subsequently, as President & Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, he executed a pivot into iPSC immuno-oncology. Dr. Federoff co-founded Brain Neurotherapy Bio, a clinical stage company pursuing AAV gene therapy for patients with movement disorders.

    Dr. Federoff is a recognized thought leader and serial entrepreneur in the field of advanced medicines for diseases of the nervous system, focused on the development of gene and cellular therapy strategies to interdict pathogenesis. As a clinician scientist he has previously served roles as Dean of Medicine, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and Health System, President of the American Society for Experimental Therapeutics, American Society for Neural Transplant and Repair, and Vice President of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Federoff is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, and has published more than 350 peer-reviewed, review articles, chapters and U.S. patents.

    Dr. Federoff received his Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry and Doctor of Medicine from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

  • Associate Director of GMP Manufacturing

    Mr. Travis Cordie is Associate Director for GMP Manufacturing at Kenai Therapeutics. With a background in pluripotent stem cells, genome engineering and GMP manufacturing of cellular therapies, he looks forward to advancing iPSC-derived neuron replacement therapies! He was recently Senior Manufacturing Manager at Clade Therapeutics leading both internal and external GMP manufacturing teams for iPSC cell line derivation, genome engineering and differentiation of iPSCs to T cells. Previously, he was a GMP Operations Manager in the Cell and Gene Therapy Division at R&D Systems, a Biotechne brand, serving as team lead for custom gene editing and banking projects for both research and phase 1 clinical studies.

    Mr. Cordie holds a Bachelor of Science in biotechnology from University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  • Senior Director of Clinical Operations

    Dr. Raymond Starling is Senior Director of Clinical Operations at Kenai Therapeutics. He has extensive clinical trial management experience having led the execution of Phase 1-3 trials investigating small molecule, biologic, and allogeneic stem cell products. Dr. Starling has led trials at Pfizer, Genentech, Athersys and Immunovant across a variety of therapeutic areas including neurology, oncology, respiratory, inflammatory, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and rare diseases.

    Dr. Starling received his Doctor of Philosophy in human bioenergetics from Ball State University.

scientific founders

board of directors

  • Board Member
    Partner, The Column Group

    Mr. Jeff Goater is a Partner at The Column Group (TCG). Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Surface Oncology. During his tenure at Surface, the company fostered an award-winning culture, advanced four programs into clinical development, completed its initial public offering and secured multiple strategic collaborations, including a transformative partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to Surface, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Voyager Therapeutics where he was one of the members of the founding management team. While at Voyager, he led its crossover financing, initial public offering and strategic partnership with Sanofi Genzyme.

    Previously, Mr. Goater spent nearly a decade in investment banking, most recently as a managing director at Evercore Partners, advising on more than $100 billion in strategic transactions in the biopharma industry. He began his career as a research scientist in the field of AAV gene therapy and holds master’s degrees in microbiology/immunology, pathology and business administration from the University of Rochester. Mr. Goater serves on the boards of Atavistik Bio, AviadoBio, Judo Bio, Kallyope, Remix Therapeutics and Ribon Therapeutics. He also serves on the board of advisors of Life Science Cares in Boston.

  • Board Member
    Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Cure Ventures

    Mr. David (Dave) Fallace is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Cure Ventures. He has made investments in venture capital and alternative asset funds for over 20 years. He served as a member of the investment committee of several large multibillion-dollar firms overseeing alternative investment portfolios. Across these portfolios he made investments as a limited partner and as a founding investor in start-ups.

    Most recently, Mr. Fallace served as an advisor for the biotech venture capital fund Polaris Partners where he evaluated Biotechnology and Health Care Information Technologies investments. During this period, he also served as an Expert-in-Resident program at Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development. Prior to Polaris, he served as a Managing Director and member of the investment committee heading the $2.5 billion diversifying strategies at TIFF Investment Management.

    From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Fallace served as the Director of Investments leading the $10 billion Special Opportunities program at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. He spearheaded their direct venture investing serving as a board observer at Juno Therapeutics (Acquired by Celgene) and Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI).

    Starting in 2000, Mr. Fallace worked at GF Private Equity Group managing private equity and hedge fund portfolios in addition to investing in direct venture capital transactions. He served on the board or board observer of Ahura (acquired Thermo Fisher), Alfalight (acquired Gooch & Housego), Kotura (acquired Mellanox), Pathscale (acquired QLogic), Teros (acquired Citrix), and Impinj (NASDAQ:PI).

    Mr. Fallace received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stony Brook University and his Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo focusing on tax and financial structuring and is a member of the New York Bar.

  • Chief Executive Officer
    Board Member

    Mr. Nicholas (Nick) Manusos is Chief Executive Officer of Kenai Therapeutics. Previously, Mr. Manusos was founding Chief Executive Officer of Ryne Bio (Kenai’s predecessor) from company creation, seed financing and the $80+ million series A. In addition, Mr. Manusos was President and Chief Executive Officer of Opsis Therapeutics, where he led the company through a $70 million upfront funding strategic research and development alliance with Bayer-BlueRock Therapeutics. Mr. Manusos also served as founding Chief Operating Officer of Iota Biosciences resulting in a $300 million acquisition by Astellas.

    Additional roles include Chief Operating Officer of FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics Inc., where, among other accomplishments, he played a key role in the creation and eventual initial public offering of Century Therapeutics; Vice President, Global Head of Business Development at Baxter International, Inc.; Vice President, Licensing & Business Development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals; and various executive positions at Abbott Laboratories.

    Mr. Manusos received his Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and his Bachelor of Business Administration in operations management from University of Wisconsin.

  • Chairman of the Board
    Partner, Cure Ventures

    Dr. Jeffrey M. Jonas is a Partner at Cure Ventures and brings over two decades of experience in R&D leadership and cutting-edge CNS drug discovery and development across medicines and brands that have successfully helped millions of patients, such as Lexapro, Vyvanse, Zulresso, Zurzuvae and Namenda. Dr. Jonas’ significant company-building and advisory experience has generated considerable shareholder and stakeholder value, particularly when developing novel scientific approaches to CNS.

    Prior to joining Cure, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director at ABIO-X, a life science incubator for companies that are poised to bring transformative medicines and solutions to the global market. Before ABIO-X, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sage Therapeutics, where he led the development of industry-leading CNS treatments and development pipelines. Before Sage, he was President of the Regenerative Medicine Division at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for establishing the strategic direction of its marketed products and new product pipeline, including driving the achievement of R&D milestones. Early on in his career, Dr. Jonas served as Executive Vice President of ISIS Pharmaceuticals and held senior positions at Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Upjohn Laboratories.

    Dr. Jonas has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, chapters, abstracts, and books, and holds multiple patents. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College and Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School, completed a residency in psychiatry at Harvard and served as Chief Resident of Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medicine School. Dr. Jonas is a member of the board for Karuna Pharmaceuticals and Generation Bio, and he is Chairman of the Board for Noema Therapeutics.